One in the field is not a warrior: Ovechkin's double did not help Washington to beat the Islanders in the Stanley Cup match

In the National Hockey League, the next matches of the 1/8 finals of the Stanley Cup took place. The Washington Capitals were beaten 2-5 by the New York Islanders. However, during this meeting, a long-awaited event for Russian fans took place - for the first time in the current playoffs, striker Alexander Ovechkin scored with abandoned goals.

Before the second match of the series with the Islanders, serious fears of the fans of the capital team were caused by the absence of the injured Niklas Bekström, whose place in the first link was taken by Evgeny Kuznetsov. However, already in the first minute of the match, Ovechkin brought his team forward, going to the opponent's patch and breaking through on goal from close range.

At the beginning of the second period, the Islanders first leveled the score and then took the lead. Moreover, in the second episode, striker Matt Martin took advantage of Dmitry Orlov's mistake. But after a minute and a half, the defender managed to partially make up for his guilt - he began the second scoring attack of his team, which was completed by Ovechkin.

To the disappointment of the Capitals fans, the score 2: 2 lasted only 15 seconds. Jakub Vrana lost the puck near the opponent's blue line, and Islanders striker Brock Nelson was not taken aback, went one on one with Braden Holtby and threw the puck.

In the middle of the third period, Ovechkin had a great chance to score a hat-trick. Islanders goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov left the right corner of the goal unprotected, in front of which was the captain of the Capitals. However, after his shot, the puck hit the outside of the net.

“It was Kuznetsov who made a bad pass. No, I just missed. And this shit happens, ”Ovechkin joked, commenting on the episode at the post-match press conference.

At the end of the match, Todd Rearden's wards could not oppose the opponent and conceded two more goals, sponsored by Cal Clutterbuck and Anders Lee (into an empty net).

Summing up the results of the match, the head coach of Washington highlighted Ovechkin's actions on the ice, but admitted that, in general, his players do not show everything they are capable of.

“He worked hard on himself during the break, came back in great shape. Today we needed his best game - and he showed it, converted two completely different chances, looked powerful in the strength component. But we need others to play at the maximum of their capabilities, ”the official website of the NHL quotes Rearden as saying.

Now Ovechkin has 67 goals in 133 playoff games that he played during his career. For this indicator, he climbed to 20th place in NHL history, ahead of Joe Nuindike and Denis Savart.

As for the other Russian hockey players of Washington, striker Ilya Kovalchuk again lost his points in the reporting game, Orlov chalked up an effective pass, and Kuznetsov made two shots on goal and finished the game with a coefficient of +1.

Varlamov played an important role in the victory of the Islanders, making 23 saves. In total, in the current playoffs, he conceded 11 goals out of 154 shots at his goal.

The score in the series was 2: 0 in favor of the Islanders. However, it is worth noting that in the 2017/18 championship season, Washington also started the playoffs with two defeats in a row. And despite not the most convincing start of the current Stanley Cup, the captain of the capital team is still optimistic.

“We know that we should play better. Starting with me and ending with everyone else. We have already been in this situation and we know how to fight, how to play - and we will show ourselves. I believe in this team, and all hockey players believe in each other. There is no panic, but we realize that we have not shown our game yet. We know our strengths, we know what we must do to return to this series, "Ovechkin said.

Another Russian striker Vladimir Tarasenko was also unable to help his team win. His St. Louis Blues - the reigning Stanley Cup winner - lost 3-4 to the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canadian team took the lead in the first period thanks to a goal from Bo Horvat. Tanner Pearson then doubled the lead, but at the end of the second 20-minute, St. Louis striker Ryan O'Reilly narrowed the lead.

The main struggle took place in the third period. Elias Petersson again increased the gap to two goals, but Samuel Ble and David Perron evened the score. The latter was assisted by Tarasenko. The winning goal in overtime was scored by Horvat. Thanks to this success, "Vancouver" took the lead in the series 2: 0.